Here in the Future

November 23, 2021

image courtesy of @pixabay, CC0

Everything is different

Something I value very highly in programs is their continued ability to respond to change. I've often argued that a piece of software that's become difficult to change has drastically diminishing returns on continued investment of effort. As our understanding of our product, customer, or environment improves, so must the software systems that support them be able to change to reflect that understanding. Change is inherent in any functioning system.

That last thought, that change is inherent in any functioning system, is one that I think is both universal and profound. It's not a huge leap of logic to apply this thought, born in analyzing software, to our own minds. In fact, there is scientific evidence that suggests that minds that stay active are more effective at staving off Alzheimer's Disease. The none-too-subtle implication is that change is not only healthy, but critical to maintaining a healthy mind. Conversely, a sort of death occurs in the mind as it stops engaging in change.

In a broader sense, I believe this also applies to our lives. People who resist change become stagnant. While stagnation is not inherently dangerous, it is the clear antithesis of growth. Whereas growth is an affirmation of life and livelihood, stagnation is, at best, a slow wilting of it.

When discussing change in our lives, we can categorize it as either externally or internally originating. That which we initiate and that which the rest of the world expects us to accommodate. In a healthy state, we plan for and create change in our own lives, while also integrating the demands of our surroundings. When we become stagnant, it's usually because we've stopped initiating our own change or because an external change has had an unfavorable effect on us.

The global pandemic brought about some unfavorable changes in my life in 2020, as it did for most of us. Change that stymied some of my own plans and caused me to become stagnant. This post is equal parts rallying cry and personal declaration. A moment to reflect, here on the precipice of change, because change is inevitably on its way.

What the future holds

Entrepeneurship

I've spent the last year and a half as an employee after six years as a business owner. While it's been beneficial to be exposed to some new ways of thinking about solving problems and to pique my interest in technologies I wasn't familiar with before, it's also served as a stark reminder of how much I value self-determination. December 3rd will be my last day as an employee for a while. After which, I'll be concentrating on developing a business that my wife and I have been conceptualizing for the last 6 months. More on that later, but for now, it's a stealth effort.

Writing

I'm in the process of developing new writing habits. For what feels like my entire life, I've viewed writing as the culmination of thought and research. Now that I've incorporated Roam Research into my workflow, I realize how wrong I've been the entire time. Writing is both a tool and a medium of thought, as well as its own output. It seems like a very simple concept, but its power in practice is astounding. Integrating writing and networked thought into how I create knowledge has both gotten me writing every day as an integral part of my process and significantly enchanced my overall productivity.

I'm also very interested in writing in long form as a way of ensuring intellectual rigor. This is influenced by Bezos' 2004 memo prohibiting the use of slide decks in meetings and requiring the use of narrative memos to communicate ideas. Citing the email that elaborated on the edict:

The reason writing a good 4 page memo is harder than "writing" a 20 page powerpoint is because the narrative structure of a good memo forces better thought and better understanding of what's more important than what, and how things are related.
Powerpoint-style presentations somehow give permission to gloss over ideas, flatten out any sense of relative importance, and ignore the interconnectedness of ideas.

This isn't just true for PowerPoint presentations in meetings. Simply put, narrative structure promotes more rigorous thought, and I've found myself using it frequently to explore my own thoughts in higher fidelity and greater depth.

Parting Thoughts

Hanging my hopes on my own abilities feels wonderfully affirming. I'm only at the start of a long journey, but what I've learned since my last venture has prepared me for it. The big ideas from my experiences are being distilled to their essence and I'm finding fertile ground for their application in new and often unexpected places. In its own Strange Loop, this process of ideation produces an output that I am compelled to then use as its input. Not content merely to be the architect, I become part of the machination and its consumer as well.

If any of what I've written here has struck a chord with you, please stick around and join me for this adventure. I could use the company.

Cheers,
Stephen